IT is a tradition that stretches back more than a century and now the mayoral role in Darlington has truly embraced the digital age.

The current Mayor Brian Jones has launched a blog of his mayoral activities and has pledged to keep it updated throughout his time in office.

A blog is essentially an electronic journal that can be viewed online by anybody with internet access across the globe.

Mayor Jones has already uploaded dozens of photographs, comments and descriptions of events he and his Mayoress Doris have attended since starting their time in office.

One would like to think that Darlington’s first Mayor of 1867, Henry Pease, would approve of this most modern development and Mayor Jones said the blog was a useful tool in keeping residents informed and updated.

He said:“There are around 105,000 people in Darlington and I would suggest that a lot of them don’t know who the Mayor is and what the Mayor does.

“I wanted to raise the profile and show that we are worthy of the role.”

He added: “It is a fabulous opportunity to let people of the town know what the Mayor does by using modern methods but still following the traditions of the Mayor.”

The Mayor acts as an ambassador to Darlington and is usually invited to hundreds of events throughout their year in office.

Since they were elected on May 19, Mayor and Mayoress Jones have already attended 100 civic events and expect to have more than triple that amount under their chains before their term is through.

The blog can be viewed at darlington.gov.uk using the search term ‘mayoral blog’